Auction Results: 20th Century Decorative Art & Design at Christie's

March 11 '11

New York

Following the design auction at Sotheby's on March 10th, Christie's hosted their first annual Decorative Art & Design auction on March 11th in New York.

With a total of £805,148 brought in from the 109 lots attributed to specific designers, Christie's managed to achieve only a fraction of the previous days sale at Sotheby's. Perhaps their fondness for continuing to prefix their design sales with "decorative art" has not convinced design collectors. While all the other auction houses have created design specific sales, Christie's has continued with their tradition and now are falling behind the rest of the market.

While the sale reached above the total estimated value of £748,960, this is purely because of Judy McKie's unexpected triumphs. Her Monkey Bench, photo above, sold for a total of £53,630 while it was only estimated at £24,800.

Overall this sale was a bit disappointing. Although 80% of the lots sold, many did so for less than their estimates. Perhaps this underwhelming sale will finally make Christie's join the rest of the market and create 20th Century DESIGN sales!